The truth machine [electronic resource] : a social history of the lie detector / Geoffrey C. Bunn.

ISBN:

9781421406510

Title:

Author:

Bunn, G. C. (Geoffrey C.)

Personal Author:

Bunn, G. C. (Geoffrey C.)

Publication Information:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012. (Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2012)

Physical Description:

1 online resource (256 pages)

Series:

Johns Hopkins studies in the history of technology

Contents:

Plotting the hyperbola of deception -- "A thieves' quarter, a devil's den": the birth of criminal man -- "A vast plain under a flaming sky": the emergence of criminology -- "Supposing that truth is a woman-what then?": the enigma of female criminality -- "Fearful errors lurk in our nuptial couches": the critique of criminal anthropology -- "To classify and analyze emotional persons": the mistake of the machines -- "Some of the darndest lies you ever heard": who invented the lie detector? -- "A trick of burlesque employed ... against dishonesty": the quest for euphoric security -- "A bally hoo side show at the fair": the spectacular power of expertise -- The hazards of the will to truth.

Local Note:

eBooks on EBSCOhost

Subject Term:

Lie detectors and detection -- United States -- History.

Lie detectors and detection -- History.

Format:

Electronic Resources

Electronic Access:

Click here to view

Publication Date:

2012

Publication Information:

Baltimore : Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012. (Baltimore, Md. : Project MUSE, 2012)

Available:*

Shelf Number	Material Type	Copy	Shelf Location	Status
363.254 23	1:E-BOOK	1	1:ONLINE	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

How do you trap someone in a lie? For centuries, all manner of truth-seekers have used the lie detector. In this eye-opening book, Geoffrey C. Bunn unpacks the history of this device and explores the interesting and often surprising connection between technology and popular culture.

Lie detectors and other truth-telling machines are deeply embedded in everyday American life. Well-known brands such as Isuzu, Pepsi Cola, and Snapple have advertised their products with the help of the "truth machine," and the device has also appeared in countless movies and television shows. The Charles Lindbergh "crime of the century" in 1935 first brought lie detectors to the public's attention. Since then, they have factored into the Anita Hill-Clarence Thomas sexual harassment controversy, the Oklahoma City and Atlanta Olympics bombings, and one of the most infamous criminal cases in modern memory: the O. J. Simpson murder trial. The use of the lie detector in these instances brings up many intriguing questions that Bunn addresses: How did the lie detector become so important? Who uses it? How reliable are its results? Bunn reveals just how difficult it is to answer this last question. A lie detector expert concluded that O. J. Simpson was "one hundred percent lying" in a video recording in which he proclaimed his innocence; a tabloid newspaper subjected the same recording to a second round of evaluation, which determined Simpson to be "absolutely truthful."

Bunn finds fascinating the lie detector's ability to straddle the realms of serious science and sheer fantasy. He examines how the machine emerged as a technology of truth, transporting readers back to the obscure origins of criminology itself, ultimately concluding that the lie detector owes as much to popular culture as it does to factual science.

Author Notes

Geoffrey C. Bunn is a senior lecturer in psychology at Manchester Metropolitan University and coeditor of Psychology in Britain: Historical Essays and Personal Reflections .

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Psychologist Bunn's first book is an account of the social factors and criminological discourse that led to the creation of the lie detector, a device "deeply embedded in the North American psyche." The majority of the book is an expertly constructed narrative detailing the "sustained dialogue between science and the wider culture" in the late 19th- and early 20th-centuries that gave rise to the idea of detecting falsehood as a means of identifying criminals. This narrative's extensive cast of characters includes bickering psychologists, charismatic and sensationalist leaders, and a woman whose skepticism of the sexist criminal anthropology of the 19th-century brought about the first instance in which physiological changes were used to detect deception in people. Bunn (coeditor, Psychology in Britain: Historical Essays and Personal Reflections) ultimately argues that the lie detector did not have a proper inventor, but was rather conceived of in the detective fiction of the 1910s. Those looking for a general history of the lie detector or the details of its function will be disappointed, but those interested in a history of American society's relationship with truth, deception, and its detection will be enlightened. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Choice Review

Psychologist Bunn (Manchester Metropolitan Univ., UK) describes the emergence and historical evolution of criminologists' and social scientists' construction of theories or explanations of criminals and criminal behavior. Early 19th-century researchers assumed that criminals were physiologically distinct degenerate humans, and devised a host of measurements and descriptions of "born criminals." The futility of superficial physiological explanations led criminologists around the end of the 19th century to postulate "internal" or psychological pathologies, especially emotions, considered concealed and dangerous. Bunn credits novelists with undermining the notion of criminals as categorically different and with promoting the idea that crime was normal or ordinary. According to the author, America was particularly hospitable to technologies to detect deceit, due partly to a Puritanical abhorrence of lying and utopian faith in technological progress. Bunn describes the use of polygraph tests as reflecting and relying on elements of intimidation and authority, but the details and effectiveness of the measurements of the polygraph are not Bunn's primary concern in this telling--the lie detector is as much or more a social construct as it is objective measurement. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic and general readers. D. Bantz University of Alaska